Parker County Today November 2015 | Page 77

you’ve got to expect a little attitude,” she said. “I think what bothers me more is the adults that you would think know better.”  She tries to respect every person she deals with, from friendly neighbors to traffic stops, but her kindness isn’t always returned. Field loves her career in the law enforcement world, but on the chance that the field hadn’t worked out, she also considered nursing, something she said she still may do, some day. “I’ve thought about doing this when I retire, of course I’ll be much older, but I’ve given serious thought into going back to school for nursing,”  she said. When Field retires from law enforcement (she will be eligible to fully retire in five years), she said she would still be too young not to work anyway. Working as a real life law enforcement hero, it would be understandable that she would want a break while at home, steering clear of the crime shows. However, Wendy admits that she can’t stay away from them all. She favors one in particular.  “The only one I really watch that’s kind of a guilty pleasure is Law and Order SVU (Special Victims Unit),” she said. “I love Mariska Hargitay. She’s gorgeous. I did get into True Detective, that was pretty good, but of course, who can turn away from Matthew McConaughey?” she joked. Aside from catching up on her guilty pleasure occasionally, in her free time Field also likes to run.  “I’m really big into fitness, I run a lot, I go to the gym, I ride a bike. It’s a therapy for me, there will be things I have on my mind and sometimes I’ll run and I won’t even remember where I’ve been because I’m thinking through things,” she said. Overall, Field said she wouldn’t trade her career for anything. Her advice to future law enforcement officers, or just anyone considering the career field is simple: stay in school. “Part of the reason I went back, I wanted to teach my kids to finish what they started. If it’s their passion, stay in school, it’s only going to help them. It’s never too late.”  Phoenix Transmission NOVEMBER 2015 Your World-Renowned Home Town Transmission Shop Since 1983. 1304 Mineral Wells Highway • Weatherford, TX 76086 817-599-7680 PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY but we all get stereotyped as bad. When you go out and hear parents tell their children negative things, all it does is make the kids scared. When they say, ‘If you don’t behave, I’m going to have this officer arrest you,’ that’s awful. If they’re somewhere and there’s an emergency and they need help, they’re not gonna come up to a police officer because all they know is they put people in jail.”  Things aren’t all bad though, she said, noting officers have also received a lot of support from the county. “We’ve got people bringing us food and we’ve had kiddos come in and bring us posters,” she said. Another thing she’s noticed is kids sprinting up to her while she’s in uniform saying, “We back the blue,” before proceeding to give her a high five. It’s no secret law enforcement is dangerous, but some things are worse than getting injured on the job, she said, recalling a case she worked involving a shaken baby.  “He was two months old; that was a really tough case. He was a perfectly normal child, and now he’s not and he never will be again,” she said. “The damage was so extensive that they didn’t think he was going to survive. It was really hard to know that he never had a chance to be something great. He could have been the person God put on this earth to find the cure for cancer, and because somebody made the decision that they did, he’ll never get to do anything like that.” Visiting the infant in the hospital was most difficult because of all the tubes and wires attached to his small frame. Even worse, she was responsible for taking the child’s photo. “In order to make a good case we had to take his photograph, and I just felt like I was exploiting him, I felt terrible.”  Now as a mother of two children, a daughter Alex, 16, and younger son Nate, 12, the case especially hits home for her, she said. Asked if there was anything she would change, Wendy said, “Not to condone anything they do, but teenagers will be teenagers, and 75